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Beppu-Oita Marathon Preview


The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon is going ahead this Sunday, for at least a part of its field. TBS will be broadcasting it live starting at 11:50 a.m. Sunday local time, and JRN will cover it on @JRNLive. There's no word at this point on official streaming, but you could always give mov3.co a go.

Two weeks before the race, organizers announced that they were cutting back the field of nearly 4,000 to only those with qualifying times under 2:30, entrants in the blind marathon division, and qualified locals, a total of about 500. That pretty much eliminated women from the race, including 7-time Hofu Marathon winner Hisae Yoshimatsu, leaving Tokyo Paralympics gold medalist Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) as the probable favorite in the women's race unless a local is ready to run sub-3.

The men's entry list is heavily dominated by people who part of the Miracle in Lake Biwa last year, Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) and Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.) leading the way at 2:07:12 and 2:07:41 from that race. Four others on the list have run 2:08 recently, three at Lake Biwa, with two 2:09 veterans rounding out a sub-2:10 club that's as good as in any past year at Beppu-Oita, even without an international field. The lone Ethiopian in the race, 2019 Fukuoka 3rd-placer Derese Workneh (Hiramatsu Byoin), is locally-based in Kyushu.

Along with the field of proven talent, sub-61 half marathoners Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) and Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) are on the list for their debuts fresh off good runs on the New Year Ekiden's longest stage. Track specialist Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) is running for real after a couple of less-serious marathon stabs, and likewise doing it off a good New Year run. Last time around Aoyama Gakuin University's Yuya Yoshida made a big impact at Beppu-Oita in his debut, and this time the 2022 Hakone Ekiden champ team has four members on the list including Hakone member Takayuki Iida, who ran the equivalent of a 1:02:21 half marathons on his stages, and sub-63 half marathoners Taiki Miyasaka, Ryo Nishikubo and Shungo Yokota.

Beppu-Oita counts heavily in the new qualification system for the Oregon World Championships and the revamped MGC 2024 Olympic marathon trials qualifying system. Currently sitting at #7 in the JMC rankings, bib #1 Dairokuno would need to run 2:05:27 here to move into the #1 spot and have a chance of scoring a place on the Oregon team if he's not overtaken by someone in Osaka or Tokyo. That's not very likely, but a sub-2:10 top 3 finish, a sub-2:09 finish in 4th-6th, or a sub-2:08 in any placing would get him or any of the others into the MGC race and a chance for the 2024 Paris Olympics team. Scoring enough to stay in the top 8 in the JMC rankings after Osaka and Tokyo would also work for MGC qualifying, so whether or not it's obvious at the time there are a lot of potential story lines at work for this and the other upcoming races.

70th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Beppu, Oita, Feb. 6, 2022
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:12 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.) - 2:07:41 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) - 2:08:28 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:08:30 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Takuya Fujikawa (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:08:45 (Tokyo 2020)
Yuta Koyama (Toenec) - 2:08:46 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Ryo Hashimoto (GMO) - 2:09:29 (Beppu-Oita 2019)
Hisanori Kitajima (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:09:54 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:10:17 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tadashi Suzuki (Suzuki) - 2:10:46 (Hofu 2020)
Derese Workneh (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:10:52 (Fukuoka Int'l 2019)
Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:13 (Hofu 2019)
Yuichi Okutani (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:11:16 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 2:11:54 (Hofu 2020)

Debut/Do-Over
Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:49 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:00:55 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) - 1:01:46 (Ageo City Half 2019)
Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:57 (Marugame 2020)
Riki Nakanishi (Toenec) - 1:02:02 (Osaka 2020)
Taiki Miyasaka (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 (Takanezawa 2020)
Ryo Nishikubo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:30 (Takanezawa 2020)
Shungo Yokota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:36 (Hi-Tech 2022)
Yuya Kawata (Subaru) - 1:02:38 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Noriaki Oyama (Konica Minolta) - 1:02:41 (Marugame 2020)
Shogo Ise (Konica Minolta) - 1:02:53 (Marugame 2019)
Takayuki Iida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:10 (Takanezawa 2019)
Chihiro Ono (Asahi Kasei) - 46:20 (Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler 2019)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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